Tag Archives: same suit
Poker Cheat Sheet
I don’t know if there is a real name for it, but ‘Cheat Sheet’ is what me and buddies call the little piece of paper that most of us keep next to us in a game for the purpose of surreptitiously having a sneak in order to determine our hands, because remembering the sequence of poker hands still alludes me, even after 3 years of playing. Knowing what is what in your hand is probably the most important part of poker, so here it is, the poker novice’s (or not-so-novice’s) best friend; print it out, stick it up, do what ever you will with it.
Your poker hand is the best of the following that you can make up with 5 cards that you have available to you:
High Card: When your cards don’t make up any of the other combinations you are left with a High Card: The highest card in your hand.
One Pair: 2 of the same number or picture. When more than one player has a pair of the same, the winner is determined by who has the next highest card.
Two Pair: 2 x pair. Again when more than one player has the same two pairs it is the remaining card in the hand that decides the winner.
Three of a kind: 3 of the same number and 2 cards that are not related. When more than one player has a 3 of a kind, the hand with the highest value of the 3 cards wins.
Straight: five cards in sequence but not of the same suit. The highest run wins, e.g. 3,4,5,6,7, looses to 5,6,7,8,9.
Flush: All the same suit but not in sequence, e.g. all clubs. Should two players have a flush, the highest card in the hand determines the winner; if this is the same for both, the next highest card is looked to, and so on.
Full House: one pair plus three of a kind. If two players have full houses the highest 3 of a kind determines the winner. Should both have the same 3 of a kind, as is possible in a wilds game, the one with the highest pair wins.
Straight Flush: All the same suit, all in sequence. The highest card of the sequence determines the winner.
Royal Flush: Not really a hand as it is simply the highest straight flush possible; 10, J, Q, K, A all of the same suit.
Five of a Kind: Many tables do not accept five of a kind, but for those that do; this is 5 cards of the same value, with a wild card as the 5th.
How To Play Poker Cards and Their Rankings.
In order to explain how to play Poker – I am going to start out explaining the cards and the Card Rankings then move on to the various types of Games and what the differences are between them. The aim of the game in Poker – is to beat your opponents hands by holding a better ranked hand than they do. The cards rank from Two to Ace (although bear in mind that the Ace is allowed as both a Low and a High Card)
Single Card – This is the worst hand available and is where there is no common ground between any of the cards in your possession – They are not all the same color, not all the same suit and do not have any pairs of the same Marked Number.
A Pair – This is when two of the cards are the same Face Value – with a Pair of 2’s being considerably worse than a pair of Ace’s.
Two Pair – when you have two sets of pairs available to you – although beating a Pair – this is still not a strong hand and unless you have High Cards (Jack through Ace) you should be wary about betting highly.
Three of a Kind – This is when three of the cards available to you are all linked by the same Marked Number. E.g. Three 6’s or Three 10’s.
A Straight – This is when the cards get better and the Term stands for five sequential cards e.g. 4,5,6,7,8 but not all belonging to one suit. The best available Straight is the 10,J,Q,K,A.
A Flush – This is when all the cards are different Marked Numbers but all belong to the same suit – e.g. They are all Diamonds or are all Spades e.t.c. This is generally considered a strong hand and betting heavily on this would be expected. Be aware that the Highest Card of the Flush is the most important card as a 2,3,7,9,Ace would beat a 7,9,10,Q,K!
A Full House – This is a very good hand and is defined as a Pair and a Three of a Kind combined. That means in the five cards used – there are 2 matching numbers and 3 other matching numbers. Again the Three Card medley out-values the Pair should two players have the same hands.
Four of a Kind – A rare delight – when you have drawn this you are expected to bet heavily. This means that four of your cards all belong to the same Marked Number e.g. Four 8’s or Four Queen’s. The fifth card is only important should two players have the same identical cards – an unlikely event with this hand.
A Straight Flush – This is very rare and should be used to full effect when betting. This term applies to a hand of 5 cards – all consecutive numbers and all with the same suit. For example – 3,4,5,6,7 of Hearts would be termed as this and any player lucky enough to get this should bet heavily with it.
The Royal Flush – I have titled this appropriately as it is the hardest hand to get in the Game and should anyone be lucky to draw this at odds of 1 in 649,740 – you should be looking to bring every player into the game and bet all the chips available to you. This means that you have got the 10,J,Q,K,A of the same suit.